Another Cultural Revolution
Trump is as much a Marxist as a Fascist, perhaps more.
In 1959 the People's Republic of China stood at a crossroads. Mao Zedong's term was up and another face rose on the wall.
He did not take it well.
So Mao, spread the lie that the country had been seized by a deep state of counter-revolutionaries, internationalists, and disloyal party members. Then he, along with a cadre of opportunists, thugs, and true believers launched the Cultural Revolution, a wholesale purge and reset of the state with him in charge, dictator for a day, or for life. Mao promised that he alone could fight the invisible enemies, keep everyone safe from their invisible conspiracy, and restore China's greatness. In the end he led an insurrection not against true enemies but against the rule of law, against freedom, and against the Chinese people themselves.
It was a decade of violence, of starvation and assaults on teachers, doctors, experts, anyone who might question the lie, or provide a convenient target. It was also a decade of petty vengeance, corruption, and backstabbing as people turned in or on anyone who stood in their way. Those who once questioned the lie rushed to declare their fealty lest someone else beat them to their knees, and those who joined the movement earliest, were quickly sold out by their onetime followers. By the time it was over 100 million had been jailed or persecuted and 20 million were dead.
Thousands, if not millions died at the hands of the red guards, in struggle sessions or in jail, no different than the terror instilled by Stalin, or Pinochet. But millions more died from basic starvation, coverups, and stupidity, because a government staffed by incompetents, loyalists, and the paranoid high on ideology cannot handle real problems. Whether people in your town or province were starving or the crops failed, or the corruption ran high did not matter so long as you fluffed and stabbed your way to the top. And since the only press was "loyal press" no-one else was allowed to know.
The heirs of that horror remain in power today.
Dead too was any notion that the PRC would ever be a free nation where the political leaders would be bound by the rule of law, not above it. The Chinese constitution and the freedoms of speech, press, and religion it promises became a mere "historical document" devoid of any power, and discussion of which is routinely censored. As many lawyers have found, fight for your rights in court, and jail may be a short step away. Now China answers to the PRC, and to Xi, not the other way around.
The Cultural revolution after all was not about culture, it was about power, and who would wield it. It was about whether the law would be an instrument of liberation or just a tool of oppression, oppression not just for the outsiders but for the red guards who marched in the name of freedom and yoked themselves to the lie. Because once someone has built their power on lies there is nothing they won't do to maintain it, and to keep everyone else in line.
Today we face a choice. The president whose literal job description is to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed" has been told that he is so far above the law that we cannot even question his motives, even to assaults on the constitution itself. Self-serving lies about a stolen elections and "the deep state" have metastasized and eaten away at the Republican party until it stands for nothing at all but maintaining Trump's place and feeding his lies. His cadre of opportunists, grifters and thugs, are drawing up plans to eliminate all "pockets of independence", calling schools "the enemy", and dreaming of what dictatorial power could bring, while the dear leader is threatening far more than "one rough hour" of violence.
Do we want to go down that road? Do we want to put ourselves in the hands of people such as Trump and the scarier team behind him, who are so convinced of their own nightmares that they will force them to be real. Do we want to bow to people who plan to dictate who is and is not a real American, and who will face no check whatsoever on their lies, bullying, or power? Do we want to hope that people who build their power on lies, threats, and theft will actually be peaceful, honest, and competent once they have it?
The history of China, of Russia, and of Chile, and countless others shows that they never will.
Postscript (1/22/2025): Since I wrote this original piece Trump has been re-elected and the “normal” politicians have welcomed him as if he is. On his first day in office he granted complete pardons to those who assaulted our democracy including Neo-Nazis, Street-Gangs, and the paranoid. His servers in Congress have chosen to make ineffective statements, feign ignorance, or declare their renewed subservience to the man who unleashed a mob and tried to have them killed. They have also announced another attempt to rewrite the history of the day as the fault of anyone else but them.
None of this changes my view, all it does is reinforce my point. In the runup to the Cultural Revolution there were many who would talk themselves into obedience or who thought that they could ride the tide. Most were disastrously wrong. There were many millions more who failed to recognize what was happening and only woke up once the Red Guards were in their streets and at their door.
Protecting those who committed violence on the leader’s behalf ensures they will be around to do so again. And rewriting the history to claim it wasn’t you but someone else gives cover to those weak enough, or corrupt enough, to stay at their side. We should assume that both will continue because lies, like free cancer cells, don’t fade away but spread.
What we do not just now, but every single day, in every interaction, every discussion, every fight, determines whether we are among those who stand idly by and allow it to metastasize or whether we stand up for something that is worth defending.
Postscript (4/13): Trump has now disappeared people to foreign gulags for life sentences without trial or due process. He is claiming a man sent “in error” cannot be returned and openly threatening to do the same to US citizens.
The red guards are already on the march.
Followup discussion can be found here.
Very insightful. Thank you for posting!